Human Rights Day statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

This has been a year of tremendous activism – notably by young people. It is particularly fitting that this year we mark Human Rights Day during the UN conference in Madrid to uphold climate justice. We owe a debt of gratitude to all those millions of children, teenagers and young adults who have been standing up and speaking out more and more loudly about the crisis facing our planet.

Rightly, these young people are pointing out that it is their future which is at stake, and the future of all those who have not yet even been born.

It is they who will have to bear the full consequences of the actions, or lack of action, by the older generations who currently run governments and businesses, the decision-makers on whom the future of individual countries, regions and the planet as whole depends.

It cannot, of course, be left to young people alone to tackle the climate emergency, or indeed the many other human rights crises that are currently causing simultaneous turbulence in so many countries across the world. All of us must stand together, in solidarity, and act with principle and urgency.

We can, and must, uphold the painstakingly developed universal human rights principles that sustain peace, justice and sustainable development. A world with diminished human rights is a world that is stepping backwards into a darker past, when the powerful could prey on the powerless with little or no moral or legal restraint.

However, among the many human rights challenges that have been metastasizing during the first two decades of the 21st century, the global climate emergency presents perhaps the most profound planet-wide threat to human rights that we have seen since World War II. From the right to life, to health, to food, water and shelter, to our rights to be free of discrimination, to development and to self-determination, its impacts are already making themselves felt.

We have a duty to ensure young people''s voices are heard. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was a firm commitment by States to protect the rights of everyone – and that includes making it possible for future generations to uphold human dignity, equality and rights.

All human beings have a right to participate in decisions that have impact on their lives. In order to ensure more effective decision-making, and to build greater trust and harmony across their nations, the leaders of every society should be listening to their people – and acting in accordance with their needs and demands.

Nothing summarizes these aims, the leitmotif of the international human rights system, more clearly and succinctly than Article 1 of the Universal Declaration, which states boldly and unequivocally that "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

No country, no community, will be spared by the climate emergency, as it intensifies. Already, we are seeing the most vulnerable communities and nations suffering terrible damage. People are losing homes, livelihoods – and lives. Inequalities are deepening, and more people are being forced into displacement. We must act quickly, and with principle, to ensure the least possible harm is done to human beings, and to our environment.

Climate harms will not be halted by national borders – and reactions based on hostile nationalism, or short-term financial considerations, will not only fail: they will tear our world apart. The struggles for climate justice and human rights are not a political quarrel. This is not about left or right: it is about rights – and wrongs.

It is not just concerns about the accelerating climate crisis that have driven millions to stand up and demand action. In every region, people are finding their voice to speak up about inequalities and repressive institutions. I am inspired by the courage, clarity and principle of all these people, some of them very young indeed, who are standing up peacefully, in order to right the wrongs of our era and create greater freedom and justice. They are the living expression of human rights.

Policy-makers everywhere need to listen to these calls. And in response, they need to shape more effective, and more principled, policies.

We have a right to live free from discrimination on any grounds. We have a right to access education, health-care, economic opportunities and a decent standard of living.

We – all of us – have a right to participate in decisions that affect our lives. This is about our future, our livelihoods, our freedoms, our security and our environment. And not just our future, but the future of our children, grand-children and great grand-children.

We need to mobilise across the world – peacefully and powerfully – to advance a world of rights, dignity and choice for everyone. The decision-makers understood that vision very clearly in 1948. Do they understand it now? I urge world leaders to show true leadership and long-term vision and set aside narrow national political interests for the sake of everyone, including themselves and all their descendants. http://bit.ly/2RBmk5C

Children and young people must be at the heart of dealing with the climate crisis, the UN and campaigners have said as climate talks in Madrid enter their second week with little concrete progress.

Young people, including Greta Thunberg, played a leading role in protests at COP25 over the weekend, and on Monday appeared at the conference to put pressure on negotiators to come up with a plan for reducing greenhouse gases and tackling the impacts of climate breakdown.

Penelope Lea, a 15-year old from Norway, was the first climate activist chosen to be a Unicef ambassador. She said: “We need to keep giving the decisionmakers the power to make the changes we need to see. People have a right to knowledge, and an obligation to get knowledge. Some say we have to wait for people to get ready for change. But we need to make people ready. These are some of the things the youth movement is trying to do, and have to do to ensure progress at COP25.”

She spoke as governments including the intended conference host Chile, the co-hosts Costa Rica and Spain, and several other countries signed up to an international declaration that the climate emergency was a crisis for the rights of children. The organisers, including Unicef, hope this will encourage countries to include special consideration for children in their climate action plans.

Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, applauded the young activists. “I understand the despair and rage that so many young people and older ones too are feeling. All of us know the facts and so far there has been far too little real action. Children and young people have a right to participate. We need to implement the principle of intergenerational equity that the Paris agreement sets out.”

Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland, said: “The children have called out the adult world, called us out very effectively, as this is a grave injustice. When I was growing up I did not have that shadow [of climate breakdown]. It’s not fair that we have made children have that fear.”

Unicef warned that climate breakdown would reverse the gains made in recent years in protecting children and enshrining their rights in law.

More than 500 million children live in areas judged to be at extremely high risk of floods, due to cyclones, hurricanes, storms and rising sea levels. In the Caribbean alone, the number of children displaced by extreme weather events has risen sixfold in five years, with more than 760,000 children displaced between 2014 and 2018.

More than 160 million children are living in areas with high levels of drought, with severe impacts on their development and exposure to disease. That number is expected to rise dramatically, so that on current trends as many as one in four children around the world will live in areas of extreme water stress, according to the UN.

Diseases, including mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, are forecast to spread to new areas as a result of global heating. Children under five are likely to be most at risk.

Air pollution, which is made worse by coal-burning power stations, fossil fuels burned for transport and biomass burning in homes without clean energy sources, also hurts children disproportionately. Breathing toxic air can stunt children’s lungs permanently, and has a long-term impact on their health, brain function and development.

Toxic air contributes to the deaths of about 600,000 deaths of children under five every year, from pneumonia and other respiratory problems. But the measures needed to tackle the climate crisis – replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, creating green spaces and planting trees – would also help to clean up dirty air.

Gautam Narasimhan, a senior adviser on climate change, energy and environment at Unicef, said: “From hurricanes to droughts to floods to wildfires, the consequences of the climate crisis are all around us, affecting children the most and threatening their health, education, protection and very survival. Children are essential actors in responding to the climate crisis. We owe it to them to put all our efforts behind solutions we know can make a difference.” http://bit.ly/34bd9LX

After more than a year of grim scientific projections and growing activism, world leaders are increasingly recognising the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet nothing has been done.

For more than a year, children and young people from around the world have been striking for the climate. We launched a movement that defied all expectations, with millions of people lending their voices—and their bodies—to the cause. We did this not because it was our dream, but because we didn’t see anyone else taking action to secure our future. And despite the vocal support we have received from many adults—including some of the world’s most powerful leaders—we still don’t.

Striking is not a choice we relish; we do it because we see no other options. We have watched a string of United Nations climate conferences unfold. Countless negotiations have produced much-hyped but ultimately empty commitments from the world’s governments—the same governments that allow fossil-fuel companies to drill for ever-more oil and gas, and burn away our futures for their profit.

Politicians and fossil-fuel companies have known about climate change for decades. And yet the politicians let the profiteers continue to exploit our planet’s resources and destroy its ecosystems in a quest for quick cash that threatens our very existence.

Don’t take our word for it: scientists are sounding the alarm. They warn that we have never been less likely to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels—the threshold beyond which the most destructive effects of climate change would be triggered.

Worse, recent research shows that we are on track to produce 120 per cent more fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with the 1.5C limit. The concentration of climate-heating greenhouse gases in our atmosphere has reached a record high, with no sign of a slowdown. Even if countries fulfil their current emissions-reduction pledges, we are headed for a 3.2C increase.

Young people like us bear the brunt of our leaders’ failures. Research shows that pollution from burning fossil fuels is the world’s most significant threat to children’s health. Just last month, five million masks were handed out at schools in New Delhi, India’s capital, owing to toxic smog. Fossil fuels are literally choking the life from us.

The science is crying out for urgent action, and still our leaders dare to ignore it. So we continue to fight.

After a year of strikes, our voices are being heard. We are being invited to speak in the corridors of power. At the UN, we addressed a room filled with world leaders. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, we met prime ministers, presidents and even the pope. We have spent hundreds of hours participating in panels and speaking with journalists and filmmakers. We have been offered awards for our activism.

Our efforts have helped to shift the wider conversation on climate change. People now increasingly discuss the crisis we face, not in whispers or as an afterthought but publicly and with a sense of urgency. Polls confirm changing perceptions. One recent survey showed that, in seven of the eight countries included, climate breakdown is considered to be the most important issue facing the world. Another confirmed that schoolchildren have led the way in raising awareness.

With public opinion shifting, world leaders, too, say that they have heard us. They say that they agree with our demand for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis. But they do nothing. As they head to Madrid for the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, we call out this hypocrisy.

We will again take to the streets in Madrid, Santiago and many other places on December 6th during the UN climate conference. Schoolchildren, young people and adults all over the world will stand together, demanding that our leaders take action—not because we want them to, but because the science demands it.

That action must be powerful and wide-ranging. After all, the climate crisis is not just about the environment. It is a crisis of human rights, of justice and of political will. Our political leaders can no longer shirk their responsibilities.

Some say that the Madrid conference is not very important—the big decisions will be made at COP26 in Glasgow next year. We disagree. As the science makes clear, we don’t have a single day to lose.

We have learned that, if we do not step up, nobody will. So we will keep up a steady drumbeat of strikes, protests and other actions. We will become louder and louder. We will do whatever it takes to persuade our leaders to unite behind science so clear that even children understand it.

Collective action works—we have proved that. But to change everything, we need everyone. Each and every one of us must participate in the climate movement. We cannot just say we care—we must show it.

Join us. Show your community, the fossil-fuel industry and your political leaders that you will not tolerate inaction on climate change anymore. To the leaders who are headed to Madrid, our message is simple: the eyes of all future generations are upon you.

Sep. 2019

Our addiction to fossil fuels causes climate emergency. (OHCHR)

UN human rights experts call for an end to society''s addiction to fossil fuels ahead of the Climate Action Summit. They issued the following statement:

"Burning coal, oil, and gas produce the vast majority of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in the global climate emergency that endangers human rights in every region of the planet.

"Twenty-seven years after all States committed to tackling the challenge of climate change through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the share of the world''s energy provided by fossil fuels remains unchanged at 81 percent. Since 1990, global energy consumption has grown 57 percent, with coal consumption up 68 percent, oil use up 36 percent and natural gas use up 82 percent.

Among the human rights being threatened and violated by climate change are the rights to life, health, food, water and sanitation, a healthy environment, an adequate standard of living, housing, property, self-determination, development and culture.

While fossil fuels have made an enormous contribution to economic prosperity, the environmental and social costs of their use are staggering. Millions of people die prematurely each year because of air pollution, while billions of people are adversely affected by the Earth''s changing climate.

In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that ''limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society''. To meet the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement and limit the damage to human rights, urgent and effective actions must be implemented immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030, phase out unabated fossil fuel burning by the middle of the century, and reverse deforestation.

In addition, indigenous peoples knowledge may prove essential to curb the effects of climate change: their ancestral knowledge and leadership, which have maintained many of humanity''s forests, biodiversity and other resources, must be preserved. It is therefore crucial indigenous peoples rights be protected, including their right to freely and fully participate in shaping policy decisions, in particular regarding hydroelectric, wind or other projects which may be developed on their traditional homelands with the goal of reducing fossil fuels.

To empower and protect vulnerable populations requires mobilizing at least $100 billion in annual adaptation funding to assist low-income countries, and establishing a new fund, financed by an air passenger travel levy, to support small island developing States and least developed countries in addressing loss and damage caused by climate change. Wealthy countries and other large emitters must lead these efforts and provide the majority of the requisite financing.

Meeting the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C could save millions of lives every year, providing trillions of dollars in health and environmental benefits. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, energy storage and energy efficiency would create unprecedented economic opportunities. Measures must also be put in place to ensure a just transition, such as re-training and educational opportunities for workers in the coal, oil and gas industries.

A safe climate is a vital element of the right to a healthy environment and is absolutely essential to human life and well-being. In today''s global climate emergency, meeting the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights could help to spur the transformative changes that are so urgently required."

Climate change will have the greatest impact on those living in poverty, but also threatens democracy and human rights, according to a UN expert.

“Even if current targets are met, tens of millions will be impoverished, leading to widespread displacement and hunger,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, in a report released today.

“Climate change threatens to undo the last 50 years of progress in development, global health, and poverty reduction,” Alston said. “It could push more than 120 million more people into poverty by 2030 and will have the most severe impact in poor countries, regions, and the places poor people live and work.”

Even the unrealistic best-case scenario of 1.5°C of warming by 2100 will see extreme temperatures in many regions and leave disadvantaged populations with food insecurity, lost incomes, and worse health. Many will have to choose between starvation and migration.

“Perversely, while people in poverty are responsible for just a fraction of global emissions, they will bear the brunt of climate change, and have the least capacity to protect themselves,” Alston said.

“We risk a ‘climate apartheid’ scenario where the wealthy pay to escape overheating, hunger, and conflict while the rest of the world is left to suffer.”

Climate change has immense, but largely neglected, implications for human rights. The rights to life, food, housing, and water will be dramatically affected.

But equally importantly will be the impact on democracy, as governments struggle to cope with the consequences and to persuade their people to accept the major social and economic transformations required.

“In such a setting, civil and political rights will be highly vulnerable,” the Special Rapporteur said.

“Most human rights bodies have barely begun to grapple with what climate change portends for human rights, and it remains one on a long laundry list of ‘issues’, despite the extraordinarily short time to avoid catastrophic consequences,” Alston said.

“As a full-blown crisis that threatens the human rights of vast numbers of people bears down, the usual piecemeal, issue-by-issue human rights methodology is woefully insufficient.”

Sombre speeches by government officials at regular conferences are not leading to meaningful action. “States have marched past every scientific warning and threshold, and what was once considered catastrophic warming now seems like a best-case scenario,” Alston said. “Even today, too many countries are taking short-sighted steps in the wrong direction.”

States are failing to meet even their current inadequate commitments to reduce carbon emissions and provide climate financing, while continuing to subsidise the fossil fuel industry with $5.2 trillion per year.

“Maintaining the current course is a recipe for economic catastrophe,” Alston said. “Economic prosperity and environmental sustainability are fully compatible but require decoupling economic well-being and poverty reduction from fossil fuel emissions.”

This transition will require robust policies at the local level to support displaced workers and ensure quality jobs. “A robust social safety net will be the best response to the unavoidable harms that climate change will bring,” Alston said. “This crisis should be a catalyst for states to fulfil long ignored and overlooked economic and social rights, including to social security and access to food, healthcare, shelter, and decent work.”

Although some have turned to the private sector for solutions, an overreliance on for-profit efforts would nearly guarantee massive human rights violations, with the wealthy catered to and the poorest left behind. “If climate change is used to justify business-friendly policies and widespread privatisation, exploitation of natural resources and global warming may be accelerated rather than prevented,” Alston said.

“There is no shortage of alarm bells ringing over climate change, and an increase in biblical-level extreme weather events appear to be finally piercing through the noise, misinformation, and complacency, but these positive signs are no reason for contentment,” Alston said. “A reckoning with the scale of the change that is needed is just the first step.”

Global update to the 42nd session of the Human Rights Council by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

Climate change is a reality that now affects every region of the world. The human implications of currently projected levels of global heating are catastrophic. Storms are rising and tides could submerge entire island nations and coastal cities. Fires rage through our forests, and the ice is melting. We are burning up our future – literally.

The climate emergency is already driving a sharp increase in global hunger, which according to FAO has increased this year for the first time in a decade. WHO expects climate change to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050 – from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress alone.

In many nations, chaotic weather patterns and other manifestations of our environmental emergency are already reversing major development gains; exacerbating conflict, displacement and social tension; hampering economic growth; and shaping increasingly harsh inequalities.

The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope. This is not a situation where any country, any institution, any policy-maker can stand on the sidelines. The economies of all nations; the institutional, political, social and cultural fabric of every State; and the rights of all your people – and future generations – will be impacted.

The window of opportunity for action may be closing – but there is still time to act. We live in an era of tremendous innovation. More thoughtful approaches to our use of natural and renewable resources; policies which protect and empower marginalised communities, including various social protection initiatives; and better strategies by businesses across their supply chains can be good for the environment and promote greater human dignity and rights.

This Council has recognised that “human rights obligations, standards and principles have the potential to inform and strengthen international, regional and national policymaking in the area of climate change, promoting policy coherence, legitimacy and sustainable outcomes".

We need to act on that powerful statement. We need strong national commitments for action, with an emphasis on participation by environmental human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, and civil society groups representing the communities that are most at risk – as well as support from business actors, cities and other active stakeholders.

As members of the world''s primary intergovernmental body for human rights, I ask each of your States to contribute the strongest possible action to prevent climate change, and to promote the resilience and rights of your people in dealing with environmental harm.

Effective action on climate requires bringing the uncommitted and unconvinced into a shared, just and truly international effort. Human rights can help galvanize that movement. Today, a very uneven mosaic of environmental and human rights standards stands between human beings and environmental harm – and many have no effective recourse for the harm they suffer.

To each of us, a healthy environment is no less important than the food we eat, the water we drink, or the freedom of thought we cherish; all people, everywhere, should be able to live in a healthy environment and hold accountable those who stand in the way of achieving it.

This Council has a critical role to play to contribute to climate action. There are five key points that I believe should guide our action on climate.

Point one: Climate change undermines rights, development and peace.

The Secretary-General has noted that over the past six decades, 40% of civil wars have been linked to environmental degradation. While there are many current examples of this, I want to look to the countries of the Sahel region. As the UN Special Adviser on the Sahel has noted, this is among the regions most vulnerable to climate change, with temperature increases projected to be 1.5 times higher than the global average.

Desertification has massive impact on people''s enjoyment of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. The degradation of arable land across the Sahel region is intensifying competition for already scarce resources, leading to frequent clashes between herders and agriculturalists – which, in turn, exacerbate ethnic tensions.

Slow development, and increasing poverty, are exposing youth to exploitation by extremist and terrorist groups, fuelling violence – including attacks on schools; displacement; and political instability.

In May this year, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators for Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger warned that violent extremism, a serious increase in displacement in the past 12 months, and food shortages stemming from severe drought endanger the future of a “whole generation.” They also warned that growing instability risks spilling over into neighbouring countries.

Addressing the root causes of the current situation will require significant investment in redressing environmental threats; providing real opportunities for youth; and tackling inequalities.

The Sahel region has abundant natural resources, including potential for renewable energy sources, as well as a young and resilient population of men and women who have a right to live in dignity and at peace. This is a key area where the international community can – and should – implement solutions to help stem a growing crisis, and assist the countries of the region to forge a path to healthy and sustainable development.

Effective climate adaptation measures will be those which empower women; indigenous peoples; and others who live in vulnerable areas, who are often members of marginalised and discriminated communities.

This requires Governments to recognise the structural factors, which deepen these communities climate vulnerability; involve them in seeking solutions; and dedicate resources to upholding their rights, including equitable and improved access to social protection and a just transition towards greener jobs.

There is abundant evidence that women – in particular, women with disabilities ­– are disproportionately affected by natural disasters. The exclusion of half of society from effectively helping to shape environmental policies means those policies will be less responsive to the specific damage being caused; less effective in protecting communities; and may even intensify the harm being done.

Twelve years ago, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples1 recognised "the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peo­ples, which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spiritual traditions, histories and philosophies – especially their rights to their lands, territories and resources".

But as the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) will report to the Council this month, they are increasingly being driven off their lands by environmental destruction. And yet it is thanks to the ancestral knowledge and leadership of indigenous peoples that many of humanity''s forests, and other resources, still exist.

It is essential that the rights of all indigenous peoples be protected, including their right to freely and fully participate in shaping policy decisions.

I encourage all States to ensure the full, meaningful and effective participation of indigenous peoples in all environmental decision-making processes.

I am deeply concerned by the drastic acceleration of deforestation of the Amazon. The fires currently raging across the rainforest may have catastrophic impact on humanity as a whole, but their worst effects are suffered by the women, men and children who live in these areas – among them, many indigenous peoples.

The full toll of death and harm done in the course of recent weeks in Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil may never be known. I call on the authorities of their countries to ensure the implementation of longstanding environmental policies and incentive systems for sustainable management, thus preventing future tragedies.

Across the world, my Office has also noted several cases where development projects, such as large hydroelectric dams and biofuel plantations, have been funded by international financial institutions in the name of climate action – but have harmed the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including women.

I urge all development and finance institutions – including mechanisms established under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement – to establish human rights safeguards, with participation, and access to information, justice and remedy at their core.

Point three: We must better protect those who defend the environment.

Environmental defenders – including those who defend indigenous peoples right to land – engage in great service to their countries, and indeed humanity. Special Rapporteurs have noted attacks on environmental human rights defenders in virtually every region, particularly in Latin America.

I am disheartened by this violence, and also by the verbal attacks on young activists such as Greta Thunberg and others, who galvanise support for prevention of the harm their generation may bear. The demands made by environmental defenders and activists are compelling, and we should respect, protect and fulfil their rights.

My fourth point: Those most affected are leading the way.

Small island nations are among those suffering the most catastrophic effects of climate change, although they contribute very little to fuelling the problem. Just this past week, yet another devastating hurricane hit the Bahamas, taking a terrible toll in human life and destroying precious development gains. The storm accelerated with unprecedented speed over an ocean warmed by climate shifts, becoming one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever to hit land.

Most of the population of the Caribbean lives within coastal zones – and several Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas and Dominica, have introduced policies aimed at building climate resilience and mitigation measures. The reality however is that island States cannot act alone to solve a problem that is not of their own making.

South Pacific States have been leading the global call for climate action and climate justice. Our presences in the region receive evidence almost daily of impact on communities’ rights to water and sanitation, health, food, work, adequate housing – and the resulting displacement of people.

I call on the international community to increase the provision of resources and technical support to South Pacific countries, and all Small Island States, for mitigation, adaptation and prevention.

This brings me to point five: Business will be crucial to climate action

To avert future climate harms and ensure climate justice, businesses must be part of the solution. The Caring for Climate Initiative, hosted by the UN Global Compact and UN Environment, brings together more than 400 companies from around the world that have committed to taking action to address the climate crisis. Their contributions to the green and blue economies are key to the achievement of sustainable development.

Businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. States have an affirmative obligation to effectively regulate business to prevent human rights harms.

Yet in many countries, Government support and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry endangers climate goals. I remind all States of the need for policy coherence – nationally and internationally – in how they seek to address the human rights impact of climate change, including in relation to business activities.

Currently, the National Human Rights Institution of the Philippines is holding an inquiry into the human rights responsibilities of 47 companies accountable for the majority of historical greenhouse gas emissions at the global level.

The inquiry has generated considerable attention regarding the responsibility of businesses for the adverse human rights effects of climate change, and will release its findings later this year.

Increased monitoring of business human rights compliance by bodies such as the Ethics Council of the Norwegian Pension Fund is also leading to heightened awareness of shortcomings, and their responsibility to take urgent corrective action.

Furthermore, last month the Human Rights Committee issued a landmark decision in Portillo Caceres v. Paraguay – a case in which several people became ill, and one died, due to uncontrolled and unlimited use of pesticides.

This was the first time a treaty body has so clearly found that a State’s failure to protect against environmental harm may violate its obligations regarding the rights to life, privacy, and family life.

This important decision sets a precedent in establishing that States have obligations under international human rights law to conduct investigations into similar environmental harms; sanction those responsible; and provide reparations to victim.